Chapter 20
Amelia
Henry Sutter was constantly caring. He was this big, strong guy, and yet he spent his day tending to and caring for those around him.
He cared for his animals and his family.
I loved how important Bailey was to him and that he paused his life when she needed it.
And now he cared for me. I could see it and feel it when he came into my trailer after his trip.
My heart ached for him. I wanted to never be apart from him again. I was glad he had been at my house for the last few days, but it would have been a whole lot better if he had been next to me instead.
I cried when we reconnected. It wasn't intentional, but the emotions and relief were so immense that I produced hot tears without even trying to.
Henry told me he loved me when he saw that, and I said it back to him.
Then I hugged him and held onto him as tightly as I could.
It felt like a significant moment between us.
It was one. I had never in my life said those words to a man.
I took a deep breath as we embraced afterward.
"Can you come with me to the barn for a minute?" he asked.
I pulled back far enough to glance up at him. "Of course, I have the rest of the night off, and Ty left with the others, so I have the vehicle. I thought you might want to get home, so I sort of planned on following you to Butte for a little while."
"Oh, yeah, that'd be perfect, but we need to stop by the barn… and by the store. I need some things before I go home."
Henry and I walked from my trailer to the barn, and there were so many people around the cast trailer area that we didn't hold hands.
Cameron had seen us come out of my trailer together, but she didn't seem to skip a beat.
I was the one skipping beats—my heart was, anyway.
Henry had held me and kissed me and told me that he loved me in the trailer, and then we smiled casually at Cameron and started walking across the ranch like nothing had happened afterward.
We were the best secret ever.
"I can't wait for you to see your souvenir," he said to me as we were approaching the barn.
"Well, thank you, but you didn't need to bring me anything."
"What do you think it is?" he asked.
"A keychain? A snowglobe? A t-shirt?"
"Oh, no, it's none of those things," he said. "I probably should have actually thought of getting you one of those."
"I don't need any of them. It was just what I thought of when you said souvenir."
We rounded the corner, and he took hold of my hand as we walked inside the side door of the barn. He put his finger over his mouth and pulled me near him with a hand on my back as we walked inside. I turned and stared into those impossibly dark eyes.
"Why are we being quiet? Is somebody here?"
"No humans," he whispered.
"Then why are we being quiet?" I asked, still whispering.
He smiled, then he kissed me.
This one was different than the ones in my trailer. This was something faster, deeper. Henry opened his mouth, covering me with his kiss, and my whole body ached in that same needy way that I was already feeling in my chest. I let out an unintentional little moaning sound, and that encouraged him.
We kissed deeply for several heart-pounding seconds, and somehow, a barn was the most magical place on earth. It felt like we were one. We were both breathing heavy when he finally pulled back.
"Wow, Henry," I said, putting a hand to my chest and feeling it rise and fall as I continued to catch my breath.
I spoke at full volume because that kiss had knocked me silly and I forgot we had been whispering.
There was a bark that happened after I spoke, and I wasn't used to hearing a bark in the… wait.
A bark?
I stared at Henry with a look of confusion, and he smiled.
I heard another bark, and my head snapped a centimeter to the side in a small gesture that indicated I was listening intently.
"Who is that?" I said.
But I knew that bark, and my heart was already pounding. I felt like all the blood left my head as I waited for him to answer.
"It's your buddy," Henry said, smiling.
"PJ?" I asked, projecting my voice and calling through the barn.
A sharp, excited bark came from the back.
It was Percy. I knew it.
"Go get him," Henry said, smiling at me.
"Is it really him?" I asked, already running, heading that way.
"He's in the supply stall," Henry called from behind me.
And once I knew where I was going and who was waiting there, I wasted no time.
I jogged quickly through the long barn to the door of the supply stall.
The top part of the door was open, and I could see him as I approached.
I opened the latch at record speed. PJ was jumping and barking, and he busted through the door as soon as it was cracked.
He jumped into my arms, and I laughed and caught him in mid-air.
It was a move we had practiced with his disc, but I wasn't expecting it, and I had to quickly brace myself to catch him.
"Whoa, you got him?" Henry exclaimed. "What was that?"
I settled my dog in my arms. "I got him," I said, trying not to sound like I was straining.
He was licking my jaw over and over, and he was too heavy for me to hold for very long, especially with all the wiggling and licking, which made me laugh. I set him down and stooped to my knees to be next to him.
"What are you doing here?" I said straight to Percy, rubbing him.
I looked up at Henry. "What's he doing here?
What's going on? Heyyy, baby. I love you too," I said, looking at PJ again and petting him when he would not stop kissing me.
He stretched up, propping his front legs on my shoulders, and I scratched his back in long, light strokes, just the way he liked it.
"You better be careful with that tail, it might wag right off," Henry said, pointing at PJ's back end. I looked up and tilted my head at Henry. "How did this happen? Did you get in touch with Caleb?"
"Yes, I did. He told me you knew he might come by your apartment. He said you gave him a key."
"Yeah, sometimes he comes to the neighborhood to shop or go out or whatever. I told him he could stop by."
"Well, he had a friend babysitting PJ, and it was the friend who came by."
I squinted. "What? What friend?"
He shrugged innocently. "A guy named Matty. But I pretty much just told him I was keeping PJ right then when he came into the apartment. I talked to Caleb on the phone after that. I called and told him I was taking over. So here we are."
He put his hands in the air in a quick shrugging gesture like that was the end of the story. I had so many questions, though. I had heard Caleb mention someone named Matty, but I felt confused as to why he came by my house without Caleb.
"Was there more to it than that?" I asked.
Henry shook his head reluctantly. "Kind of," he said with a shrug.
"But not really. Honestly, everything's fine, and I took care of it.
Bailey and I had a blast with PJ. She's come to like throwing that frisbee to him.
I bet she'll ask for a dog for Christmas.
But, no, I didn't like the guys or think they were doing a good enough job with PJ, so I took him. "
"I can't believe he didn't even tell me he had talked to you or that you had PJ. Did you and Bailey have him the whole time you were in San Francisco?"
"Yes, and it was great. Caleb didn't tell you because I told him I wanted to surprise you. I don't like that guy, though, for the record."
I smiled because I could tell he was saying that to be protective of me, and that made me feel all warm inside. I felt like crying again, and I blinked and smiled, looking at PJ to distract myself.
"What in the world are we gonna do with you?" I asked him. "You think you're going to be in a movie or something?"
"No, I've got him. He'll stay with me," Henry said. "I planned on that. I knew you wouldn't be able to watch him or have him in your trailer or anything."
"Where's he going to stay?"
"With me. He's fine. We like each other.
He's been in here all afternoon. He knows the horses already.
I'll take him to my house at night, and then he'll ride with me to work.
I know you're busy with the series, so I was planning on watching him.
But I thought you'd feel better knowing he was close and you can see him anytime. "
Then, as if PJ was hearing us and wanted to agree, he left my side and went closer to Henry, sniffing and exploring around his feet. He obviously felt satisfied with our greeting, so I stood and stared at Henry.
"I can't believe he's here."
But the words were absent-minded. I was remembering how he had kissed me only moments ago. The thought of it made my chest ache. I felt a hot, melty, urgent sensation somewhere in my core, and I wanted to be physically next to him so badly.
"I can't believe you're here," I added.
"Who, me?" Henry asked.
I nodded, staring up at him, flirting.
"I thought you were talking about PJ since I live here."
I shook my head. "I know you live here, but you haven't been… around… in days. I was missing you so much."
"Ameliaaa." He groaned my name quietly through gritted teeth.
He was gorgeous.
I watched as he looked me over.
"I can barely…" He paused and cleared his throat. "It's hard for me to control my… I want you, and I'm trying to be a gentleman."
I thought of the passionate way he had kissed me when we first entered the barn.
I bit my lip and took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to respond to what he said about wanting me. "You are a gentleman," I said. "There's no trying. You're just a natural."
He started to say something, and he blinked and glanced to the side thoughtfully as if considering how he wanted to phrase it. "I'm wondering when we're going to get married."
I laughed because I understood what he was saying, but he didn't laugh. He just kept that sweet, natural, beautiful expression on his face. He looked like he was serious instead of joking.
"I really was wondering that, though," he said.
"Could you see it happening? Because I didn't like California, I mean, I did as a tourist, it was great.
But I wouldn't want to live there. But I would, is what I'm saying…
if you know what I mean… I would do it. I can't believe I'm saying that, but I would move there if I had to.
You know… if you're there." Henry stopped talking and closed his eyes, cringing at the long stream of words that had just come out of his mouth.
Thank goodness he was nervous. Henry was so cool and calm most of the time that if he didn't stumble over his words a little, I might not have been able to see how much he cared. I swallowed at the sight of this big, gorgeous man cringing.
"Henry."
He opened his dark eyes, and my heart sped up.
"I want to stay next to you, too."
His chest fell in a sigh of relief, like he had been holding his breath.
"I was thinking about it when you were gone. I have to go back to California when we wrap here. We still have weeks of production there—doing scenes for the last two episodes."
He nodded. "I know."
"It might be a few months."
He nodded again.
"But I was thinking after that I could… I don’t know… come see what's happening in Montana for a little while. I mean, we can look at it as a temporary… I wouldn't want us to feel any kind of pressure to… "
I paused because I realized I was now fumbling over my words. It was difficult to form good sentences when you were talking about vulnerable things. I certainly hadn't planned on telling him these thoughts in the first half-hour of reuniting with him.
But he didn't seem to mind. He was looking me over like he might devour me. He took my face in his hands and stared at me for a second before licking his lips and putting them to mine. He let his lips cover mine, meld to them, for a warm few seconds before pulling back.
"Pressure to what?" he asked.
It might as well have been a different language because my mind was swimming. His mouth was perfect, and he was so good at kissing.
"Huh?" I asked, feeling dazed.
"You said you don't want us to feel pressure to do something. And I was just wondering what you felt pressure about?"
"Oh, actually nothing, I don't feel pressure, I just didn't want you to feel trapped when I said I had thought about coming back here after we finish the series." I glanced at him, wondering what he would say.
He furrowed his brow at me. "I would only feel bad if you said you weren't coming."
I took a deep breath, and my mouth turned upward into a slow smile. "So, for tonight, you were thinking about going to the store and then to your house?"
"Yes. I was thinking we'd go to a pet store, and then to a grocery store. If the pet store's not open, there's a feed store. Then we can stop and get some food for ourselves. Did you say you had the rest of the night off?"
"Yeah, we're done for the day. I was thinking I'd follow you home."
Henry grinned mischievously at me. "Yeah, I think you should," he said.